Contemporary austerity in brazilian public education: the World Bank and High School reform

In this paper, I aim to think about the current Brazilian political situation and its consequences on education. For this purpose, I analyse the World Bank’s A Fair Adjustment: Efficiency and Equity of Public Spending in Brazil (2017) Report, in particular the section devoted to the reduction of spending on education, and its relation to High School Reform (Reforma do Ensino Médio), which ocurred at the same year and currently lies in the implementation stage. In this, I present the World Bank analysis and diagnosis of the problems and proposed solutions to Brazilian basic public education, and demonstrate the factual errors, questionable interpretations and improper guidelines offered by the report, as well as make critical analyses of the High School Reform. With this, I aim to demostrate the ways in which Brazilian sovereignty and development are harmed by the suggestions offered in and by this report, as well as the reform currently underway. Finally, in contrast, I present the ongoing successful public education policy for Federal Institutes and its fragility in the midst of the present Brazilian political conjuncture